Hello everyone, Im new here.


Im thinking of buying one of these lasers, Wich one should I choose? I want the features that the one from dragonlasers.com has. like burning rubber/plastic and stings bare skin.


The laser from Optotronics is more powerfull in MW and cheaper than the one from Dragon Lasers. But can it sting bare skin and melt som rubber/plastics?

Dragon lasers Viper series 125MW
OR
Optrotronics Premium +150mW

Optotronics sounds good, although I prefer CNIs (dragons) because they have a thin beam at aperture which enables unaided burning ; although if you don't mind, opto's laser will burn better with a lens.

Both can burn skin.

Both are good but I prefer CNIs because of the build quality. But if price is an issue go with opto. If not, Dragon.

PS : read the FAQs

Why is it like that? that the Optotronics laser must be "aided"?

And what do you mean with better built?

But the Optotronic Laser has more MW than the CNI, what advantage does the Opotronic laser have over the CNI?

Aided = with a magnifying lens

Better built = feels good in the hand, looks good, and is made of brass.

Opto has more overall power. It has a better overall power but the beam size is bigger, therefore its burning is affected. You can't burn a lot with a 200mW red with a 2mm beam diameter. But when ou focus it, it burns great. CNIs have a really thin beam (around .8mm for mine), so it burns as well as a 250mW red with a 2mm beam.


laser-----sheer power----beam aperture----- equivalent power (unaided) (/mm^2)-----focused power (mag lens approx) (*2->3)
opto--------150mW-----------2-3mm---------------75mW to 50mW-------------------------300mW
cni----------100mW-----------0.8-1,5mm-----------125mW to 66mW------------------------200mW

You can see the differneces. This table is not exact its an aprrox.

But what Noticeable things do the Opto laser do better than the CNI?
And I see that o-like and rayfoss have 150mw lasers to a much cheaper price, should I choose one of these instead? If the Opto or the CNI is better then I would choose on of these.

and thanks for the explenation!

If higher quality is what you are looking for then CNI(dragon) or Optotronics is what you want. If you want cheap pretty good lasers then go with O-like or rayfoss.

I belive Helioplasma pretty much said it all.

One thing that you might want to add is that the Opto laser (that has a bigger beam-size) will be a little more visible for the naked eye due to its beam-diameter, but the power is also therefor spread on a bigger surface/area.

About stinging skin, my old viper 75mw could sting skin, I'm very sure that they both will be able to do that and pop balloons etc ^^.


I'd go for the CNI (dragonlasers) one, because I like the build-quality they offer. But as said, It's more expensive.


Greetz,
-Nicklas

If you go with CNI PM me, I am doing GB's from CNI and the cost will be lower than Dragon lasers, also you can get ~175 mW, and in my experience the beam is thinner so better burning w/ CNI pens. -Glenn

Hi Helioplasma,
Do you have any 1st hand experience with our 150mw pen pointer?
I looked at you previous posts and saw no mention in your posts or in your sig.
I'm not sure where you got the info in table, but whoever is saying our pen pointers have a 2-3mm diameter are totally full of shit PERIOD.
They are speced at <1.5mm and are typically less than 1.3mm, in fact I've never seen one that is 1.5mm in diameter or larger.

Before providing information about a product, you should have some 1st hand knowledge or experience with that product and not rely on garbage posted in a table that any yahoo can add comments to.
I can guarantee you that any 150mw pen pointer customer of ours that would have actually posted a 2-3mm beam diameter whould have been pissed and contacted us about it as soon as they saw this hugh beam, heck the beam exit aperture is only a hair over 3mm in diameter and the beam doesn't even come close to 1/2 the diamter of the aperture hole.

Our 150 pen doesn't need any type of lens to have burning power, just ask someone who actually owns one.

No I'm sorry, but I'm aware of your incomparable QC tests. I do have a model like yours which measures the same beam diameter (about 3mm) at aperture I bought from an other laser company which probably made a biaised response.

However the sheer power doesn't change on the 150mW model, and can burn very well. Opto and DL are both great companies. Opto has a very good reputation on LPF, and if you want a higher powered model I would say optotronics. I prefer Optos Viasho's and their new models than CNIs "bat" model but I prefer the build of CNIs pen over the others. This is only my opinion which is subjective. I am not being objective here.

Once again I hope I haven't made a bad image of DL and optotronics with the chart, opto is, considered as one of the best retailers of Viasho from us LPF (ask E=MC^2 or John Lawson...). DL is another thing, but I won't detail pseudonomen137's story here. If they changed, it's good.

Hello Kazuja

I have a Viper 125 and it is one my favourite lasers. It is well made and comes in a stylish pen-style host. The beam is very thin - probably the narrowest I have (1 mm or perhaps even slightly less). It is also substantally over-specification. With a fresh battery I have measured about 170mw, though I might have been just lucky.

The viper will burn, but if it is burning that you are really interested in, then your best bet is a focusable laser. A lower-power but focused beam will burn much more effectively than a higher-power unfocused beam (burnings ability is a function of power per unit area of beam spot). It is possible to purchase a beam expander for the Viper, but the main purpose of the expander is to produce a fatter beam with lower divergence. It will not enable close range focusing.

I don't actually know of any focusable greens, though I imagine there are some out there. [Edit - Ooops I forgot about one my lasers - Megagreen 50mw focusable - burns quite well when focused.] However, many forum members will be able to build you a high-powered focusable red or blu ray.

I have no experience of Optotronics lasers.

Best regards

David

If this helps, I own both the CNI and the Opto 150. Side by side, they have approximately the same beam diameter (1mm)

So...which do you suggest I buy?